“We’re not going to go see a Kevin Hotdog Movie, now are we?”

-Jim Gaffigan

I love bacon. A recent trip to a buffet showed me that a whole lot of other people (with a variety of waistlines) feel the same way. I thought I would use a neat tool called Google Trends to pinpoint when, why, and where people are loving bacon the most. I also wanted to find out if bacon was more popular than, say… politicians? let’s see:

Bacon vs. John McCain:

Winner= Bacon

Bacon vs. Hillary Clinton

Winner= Bacon

Bacon vs. Mike Huckabee

Winner=Bacon

Bacon vs. Nancy Pelosi

Landslide Winner= Bacon

Bacon vs. Barack Obama

Winner= Barack Obama

So even in a time when American politics take the limelight, bacon reigns supreme to most politicians. A Bacon/Obama ticket? Sounds Good!

“only 2 strips left!?”

I found this on CNN online this morning… Awesum!

“Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I’m not there, I go to work.”

- Robert Orben

Each day I am continually baffled by the amount of people who still live paycheck to paycheck, while making more money than most people do. Even more, I can’t believe that they have thousands of dollars in credit card debt, car loans, and some form or another of an all purpose/personal loan. Where does it all go? Perhaps I am too simple of a person to understand this logic, but I still believe that ‘getting a raise’ is not the only way to creating wealth. This last year, I gave myself a raise quite a few times. Here is how i did it:

Drive less – This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should give up the SUV for a bicycle and join the fight to save the planet. What this does mean is to drive only when you need to, and when you need to drive you can drive less while doing it. For example, plan all of your appointments and meetings to happen at a time that minimizes your driving. I drive every day of the week and I only fill up with gas about once a month.

Approximate savings: $50/month

Brown bag it- Not hanging out with the lunch crowd doesn’t phase me. I find other people who are like-minded enough to brown bag it also. Plus, that burger or burrito will be regrettable in the hours after lunch when you feel like crap for the rest of the day. Not only do I get free lunch every day, it’s also typically a better lunch than what I otherwise would have purchased for far more and (more obviously) is the healthier choice.

Approximate savings: $65/month

Pay with cash- Okay, so it isn’t exactly cash as my personal choice. But I pay for almost everything with a debit card. Unless I am in a foreign country that doesn’t accept it, I am always swiping it at no charge. Credit cards are just another way for you to spend more money on things such as annual fees, interest, card holder benefit programs, etc…

Approximate savings: $20/month

No more Lattes – I am a pretty regular customer at a lot of local coffee establishments (i.e., Sbux). I used to always get a latte or whatever tasted pretty good. $4.75 later, I had myself a venti-strawberry-mocha-chip-extra-caramel-iced-tazo-chai-frappuchino. I was amazed at how many people would have 2-3 of those things each day! Not me. Gone are the days of extra specialty coffee. I always get a tea, coffee, or coffee misto. All for a mere $2.

Approximate savings: $25-30/month

Don’t use it? sell it – Being a minimalist, I hate having stuff around that I don’t need or use – especially when it is still worth money. This is where some degree of ruthlessness comes in. Don’t need that iPod anymore? Sell it on eBay or Craigslist. Same goes for anything else you own. Cell phones typically have a shelf-life of 1 year (if that) these days. I always sell mine when it seems that it is getting a little old. You would be surprised how many people wouldn’t mind paying $75 for your old Blackberry that doesn’t work anymore.

Approximate savings: different each month

Cut out needless purchases – I am still amazed that there are so many things that we purchase that are unnecessary. A cell phone bill will 5,00000 minutes and unlimited sms that is highly underused, a cable package with hundreds of channels that is rarely watched. Magazine subscriptions or gym memberships that don’t pay off. These are not only needless, but expensive. Cutting them out has created a great amount of savings for myself each month.

Approximate savings: $125/month

There you have it. I save approximately $200/month by spending less money on things that I don’t need. This approximates to $2400/year, or a raise of $2.40/hour. You might think that by cutting out a lot of these purchases life will become boring. It won’t. I know many people that otherwise allocate the money saved into shopping, travel, or cars. None of these are boring. When expenses are cut, a savings is made- and you get a raise.

Disclaimer: I’m not a really good blogger. Frankly, I’m pretty bad at it. My blog is not an example, nor is it a guide to follow in creating blogs. However, I analyze blogs a lot, most of them being successful, high-traffic blogs that generate great amounts of interest in their respective categories. Heck, even some of them generate money.

Like I said, I subscribe and read lots of blogs. Most of them being very popular and well respected. After a short while, I began to notice that they do a few things correctly on a consistent basis. Whether they be personal development blogs, tech blogs, sports blogs, or blogs about other blogs (yes, they exist), I found that they all have a prevalent commonality which they do extremely well. Here is what they do:

Consistency: Most bloggers update their blogs daily, giving their audience a consistent piece of writing to wake up or look forward to each day. Consistency creates a reliability that subscribers, or even casual readers can rely on. Personally, I like it when I am reading a blog and I can get a new piece of information on a daily, or at least regular basis. Keep in mind, consistency doesn’t necessarily equate into a successful blog. Writing each day about how cool Joe’s party was last night probably won’t generate a great deal of interest.

Quality: A recurring trend I have found with really good bloggers: they do things really well! Maybe not the most salient point, but I have noticed that there is rarely a poorly written, badly informed, or terribly chosen post ever written on a really good blogger’s blog. A sports writer rarely writes about his views on the Bush administration and the personal development blogger rarely writes about how the Colts beat the Chargers 41-21, and how Budweiser is far better than Coors. Simply put, most bloggers are somewhat (for the most part) qualified minds in their respective fields. Their knowledge makes them exceptional writers and thus, successful bloggers.

Focus: Focus ties in with quality. Good bloggers write about a few things. Typically, a good personal finance blogger will stick to writing about personal finance in each post they write. They might write about certain aspects of personal finance, such as ‘Why you should use Mac instead of Windows’, yet the underlying theme is always tied, or loosely tied to their sole focus of writing a quality personal finance blog. Some blogs are poor examples. They might write about iPhones one day, and study hacks the next. Because of their lack of focus, they tend to confuse readers or subscribers.

Never fly solo: Really good bloggers typically use the help of their really good blogger friends. Often a ‘guest post’ will allow for a blogger to get different views and perspectives on a particular subject. For example, a tech blogger might have a Windows bias on a particular current event. A guest post by their Linux buddy can help them get a different view, which will definitely benefit the readers and will only add to the quality of the site.

Don’t just read the comments: Some bloggers write about ‘Why I can change the world in 10 easy steps’ and call it a day. Not cool. One of the most important parts of the blog is the comments. The comments create discussion, argument and act as a medium for the writer to quickly interact with readers. I have seen that some of the most successful, most subscribed-to bloggers will reply to about 20% of their comments. Even if it is a ‘Great idea… I will take that into consideration’, readers care to see that the writer will actually read the comments and join the argument or discussion.

That said, really good blogging is tough. Not only is it a terribly diluted market, but readers want a really good reason why they should read, or even subscribe to your blog. Putting a cool image at the top of your post and talking about Jessica Alba for 2 paragraphs typically doesn’t generate much interest. However, I have noticed that really good bloggers have an incredible ability to create consistent, quality posts very quickly.

Tip: don’t start a blog with the intentions of doing extremely well quickly. Find a field or topic that you enjoy, or something that you are passionate about. Once you have done this, interest is bound to be generated in your writing.

Today was a pretty big day for people who like Apple products, specifically the iPod. With updates to all of the iPods and the addition of the iPod Touch, many people have even more ways to blow their money on Apple gadgets that are likely to be updated another year from now. However, these things were all expected and speculated on for months and months. After all of the dust settled, a few things caught my eye: Apple dramatically lowered the price of the 8Gb iPhone, and even more (unannounced) the 4GB iPhone. It seems like Apple will no longer be making the 4GB iPhone (2 months later), so they will be blowing these babies out for a mere $299.

Not too long ago, I can fondly remember these things selling on eBay for $800. 2 months later, an iPhone will only set you back 300 clams. Pretty sweet. Now, 4gb is really not alot of storage for someone who loves stashing their movies and 4,00000 songs on their iPods. However, if you aren’t much of a digital packrat, I would suggest picking up a 4gb iPhone while it still exists.

I wrote the other day about doing everything online (almost). Thinking that the internet has solved all of our productivity problems, I quickly found that I just couldn’t get away from using certain applications that were just not available online. Not only this, I couldn’t find any alternatives that even came close. Here are the things you can’t do online:

Edit Photos – I enjoy Adobe Photoshop. Whether it be the slightest touchup or fixing redeye, or doing something more involved, I can’t find any alternatives that even come close online. Yes, there are some online apps that will help you edit your photos, fix redeye, and thats about it. Whether you use Photoshop, Gimp, Inkscape, or any other alternatives, you will find that there truly is no alternative to the power of these apps. Until any of these go online, I plan on sticking with them.

Slideshow Presentations - So some online suites, such as Zoho will allow you to do slideshow presentations, but they just aren’t powerful enough. I really enjoy Apple’s Keynote, a great alternative to Powerpoint and there are no alternatives online that look as good or have the resources to make a presentation as impressive (or effortless) like regular software apps do.

Video/ Sound Editing – I don’t use and video editing programs at all, but I know that it will be a while before we see any online apps come close to the power of any software apps. Take for example, Final Cut, Avid, or After Effects – arguably some of the best editing tools you can purchase (not cheap). Because of the complexity of these apps, it will be a while before we are logging in to do some editing in an airport lounge or during our lunch breaks.

These types of programs are the kind that are embedded onto our desktops, and they probably won’t be making the shift to online, like word-processors and spreadsheets have. In the meantime, I suppose we should stick to typing out our essays and working on spreadsheets.

Doing lots of things online can greatly increase your productivity. How? Well, instead of your tasks being saved to your hard drive, they are saved to the internet, thus giving you the freedom to continue with your work anywhere an internet connection exists. For example, when sitting in a cab, I can pull out my iPhone and edit a class paper, or you can simply work on a few things on your lunch break at work . Here are a few tasks you can do online to greatly boost your productivity:

 Word process-  A no brainer. I like to use Google Docs to do any writing I am working on. Using Google Docs, I can quickly get quality word processing work done and email or print it off quickly. You also have the option to save it to your computer or online. Google Docs also gives you the option to collaborate with others on the particular project or document, so there are many options that just aren’t available in comparison to Microsoft Office, or even the freebies like Abiword or Open Office. There are a few alternatives to Google docs – Zoho (a free, complete office suite) and Thinkfree (a free word processor + spreadsheets). Typically, I prefer Google Docs because the integration with so many other Google products is there, and it just seems easier.

 Pictures – I typically use a mac, but I still have Picasa (I use Parallels). Picasa has to be the easiest, most intuitive way to save all your pictures into online web albums. Flickr is a great product, but it lacks the software to easily organize all of your photos from your computer, then to publish them online in a few clicks. I can’t stress enough how easy it is to use.

Email – I don’t use Outlook, imail, Thunderbird, or anything of that nature. Gmail. 2.9 GB (and counting) of storage where you can put anything you like. Yes, competitors such as Yahoo! do have unlimited storage which is pretty tempting. However, Gmail seems to be the leader when it comes to easy, searchable, and fast email. Plus, just like Google Docs, I can access this from anywhere I can find an internet connection, which just makes it that much better.

The resounding theme: Google. Yes, most of the products I use to work online are all Google created or acquired – including the app I use to write this, WordPress. Google has the most extensive range of quality, integrated products online. While most of them are free, and compete with much more expensive desktop programs which will just rob your time. If you can find similar products that do it for you, then that is a bonus. The objective is to save a bit more time, while having the flexibility to do your work wherever you like.

Living on campus just got more lame. Just in time for heading back to school, many universities have taken the initiative to crack down on their file-sharing students. You know, because students have it really easy. Recently I read an article about the University of Kansas, implementing their no tolerance policy for file sharing or any other forms of copyright infringement. On their Resnet website (the campus internet provider) they issued the following notice. Which was in bold red text for effect, of course:

Violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is against the law. If you are caught downloading copyrighted material, you will lose your ResNet privileges forever. No second notices, no excuses, no refunds. One violation and your ResNet internet access is gone for as long as you reside on campus.

Yikes!

Maybe a little bit harsh to be targeting America’s best and brightest. However, I thought how does this apply to students that live a few blocks away, off campus? Live on campus and be punished, live nearby and escape the RIAA? Also, what about community colleges? As many students live off-campus, does that let them off the hook for downloading Windows Vista in their Mom’s basement? It’s a sad state when they have to put the death penalty on students for downloading a few 50 cent albums, yet so many greater problems exist.

I’m really not sure if all or even most campuses are doing this. Truly, I think it is a quick fix to scare the less knowledgeable freshman from using limewire in his dorm. The bright side is that there are always ways around this. As students are smart and resourceful, it won’t take long before they are walking to the Starbucks down the road to plug in and download some music and a few files. I’m sure they already have. I truly can’t wait until a student gets gets their internet revoked for downloading a copy of Ubuntu.

-Back with new stuff soon

I once paid 25 bucks to get my Blackberry unlocked and I thought that was alot. Not anymore. George Hotz, a 17 -year old pre-college freshman spent his entire summer (with a few other dudes) unlocking his iPhone. Ever since the iPhone was released, the race was on to see who would be the first to unlock it. After 500 hours of hardware and software manipulation (and tons of Red Bull), George has finally unlocked the iPhone, using it on T-Mobile (the only other GSM network in America). Obviously, this opens up the market for overseas and even domestic carriers to use the iPhone. Good for Apple, not so good for at&t.

It’s definitely good news that the iPhone has been unlocked, but a Nissan 350z for unlocking it? Last time I checked, a 350z was 25-30K. For a phone. Oh yeah, George also got 3 8GB iPhones on top of the 350z. Lets keep in mind what we are talking about here. A phone. Ridiculous.

George isn’t the only one to unlock the iPhone. People at iphonesimfree.com have claimed that they have also unlocked the iPhone, as proved by Engadget. Unfortunately, no car in trade for an iPhone, but I am sure that business will be good or both them and eBay for the next while. In the meantime, George is going to college. After all, he is 17.

You can track the progress of George’s summer on his blog. Heck, if you want to unlock your own iPhone (at your own risk) you can follow the 10-steps to unlocking one yourself. George will be attending RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) this fall, where I am sure you will find some more interesting things to come.

Update: The Geohot hack seems to be getting pretty popular. I have noticed alot of phones surfacing on Ebay, typically in the price range of $800-$1000+. In particular, I noticed a phone in Calgary, Canada that was working on Rogers Wireless, apparently with no problems, as he demonstrated in a video calling random numbers. In addition to this, he has managed to get the You Tube feature to work, which normally would not work on other unlocked iPhones on T-Mobile. My hope is that the unlock becomes more common (and easier), giving other networks and other countries an opportunity to use the iPhone.

Also, the folks over at iphonesimfree appear to be a bit unhelpful when it comes to unlocking one iPhone. It appears that they are a ‘bulk’ (greedy) only company, so you cannot purchase an unlock for a single phone. Wait it out a short while and the unlock will become a bit easier to attain.

Update Update The unlock has now been released by iphonesimfree as of today. The unlock still is only available in bulk quantities, yet you can purchase it from other companies who have purchased multiple licenses. The prices range from $50-$100, depending on who you purchase it from. Here is the link:

http://www.iphonesimfree.com/cgi-bin/iphonesimfree/engine.pl?page=buy

Good luck!

I found a great way to organize your tasks/errands/goals/memos/etc. Urgency vs. Importance. I like this, because it gives a really simple visual representation of the importance of your tasks in quadrants. Let’s assume you use importance as your x axis and urgency as your y axis. The most urgent and important tasks will go in the top right quadrant of your graph. This would be tasks like ‘call Bob to book lunch meeting at 12pm’ or ’study or quiz’. ‘Buy milk’ might fit in there, too – I suppose it just depends on how important it is to you. I liked this graph and I am going to try it out for a few weeks to see how it helps me get stuff done. The beauty is that you can use it with anything. For instance, a girl gives me her number and I want to write it into my planner. Depending on who she is (hot, ugly, career minded, works as a bartender) I can then decide where she fits in the urgency vs importance graph. Sweet!

Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the best example. However, I merely wanted to describe the flexibility of this graph. When I hear the word ‘graph’ most people get the creeps, but this one is pretty simple. I noticed that when plotting down tasks for my day, running was an important task (it’s healthy and stuff, right?), but that task really wasn’t urgent. I could go for a run tomorrow and still be fine. Using this graph is a cool way of breaking up the tasks that need to get done vs. the tasks that can wait, but are still important. -Cool

-Back with new stuff shortly. (maybe not tomorrow)